High Aspirations vs. Survival

Have you met a ten year old who says that his/her aspirations are to drop out of high school and get a high school equivalency diploma? No? Me neither. Most ten-year-olds want to be a doctor, teacher, police officer, or fireman when they grow up. 

When I was ten, I wanted to be an astronomer. The planets fascinated me and so did black holes; however, the more that I learned about astronomy and the math, tables, and science behind it, the less interested I became in it. Do I still love to star-gaze and hypothesize about outer-space and beyond? Sure, but I'm not going to ever become an astronomer.

Somewhere in the throes of late elementary, middle school, and early high school the aspirations of young kids change. There are a few who are stubborn enough to only want to be one thing when they grow up. However, many move into a survival stage and somewhere in late high school/early adulthood they start to have a new dream.

For students who spend all of late elementary through high school surviving sometimes they don't finish their high school graduation requirements. These students will usually end up walking into our high school completion program. Many times these students have been in survival mode for so long that they aren't sure how to set a goal, let alone achieve the goal.

Our class Pathways to Success has helped students identify the coping skills that help them survive, but also challenges them to look beyond the high school diploma/equivalency diploma and ask themselves about what happens after that. 

In a recent meeting, one of the facilitators for Pathways to Success said that the students tend to be more motivated if they have a "carrot" dangling in front of them. If their completion of their high school credential is a ticket to a promotion at a job or the acquisition of the job itself, then they tend to have higher aspirations. If this is their eighteenth time beginning the program with no other goal than to get the high school diploma, then the students tend to be less likely to finish.

Those students who walk in and are in survival mode may finish the coursework they need to move on to college and career, but many are in the midst of life circumstances that prevent them from having the supports they need to continue on to becoming successful citizens.

Do high aspirations help your students be more successful?